September 02, 2005

"Feds revise stance on AZ voter ID requirement"

"Arizona voters may be able to obtain at least a provisional ballot at polling places even if they don't show required identification despite the ID requirement in a ballot measure approved by voters last year. Whether that provisional ballot gets counted is another question.

The U.S. Justice Department in January signed off on election-law changes made by Proposition 200 itself. And a top department official in April signaled that the state would not run afoul of federal law if it put into place procedures to implement the ballot measure's voter ID mandate.

However, a different department official on Thursday wrote the state, saying it was "necessary to clarify our earlier interpretation in order to ensure an accurate representation of the Justice Department's views."

Acting Assistant Attorney General Bradley J. Schlozman's letter to a state official said the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 requires that a person claiming to be an eligible voter and willing to sign a statement to that effect be given at least a provisional ballot.

However, HAVA leaves it up to states to decide whether a person who casts a provisional ballot is actually eligible to vote and therefore whether a provisional ballot should be counted, Schlozman wrote. Therefore, the state is free to prohibit the counting of a provisional unless the voter produces proper identification on or after election day, Schlozman added."

You can read the full story here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at September 2, 2005 07:12 AM